Weekend in Virginia Beach

This past weekend we packed up half of our house and braved the three hour drive to Virginia Beach to visit Greg, Tessa, and their latest addition to the family, Callan Marie. After having to cancel our plans to visit two of three times since Callan was born this past September, we were relieved and excited to arrive at our departure day with all of us in good health. Phil's parents had been staying at our house sine Tuesday so we all left, more or less together, on Friday afternoon after Philip got home from preschool. The drive was long (for three hours) and uneventful, and markedly odd, as Phil's parents beat us there by what seemed to be half an hour despite the fact that they barely had a head start on us upon leaving our house. Certain they were at least a solid half an hour behind us when we pulled into G&T's neighborhood, my eyes about bugged out of my head when I saw their little red Hyundai parked in the driveway. Still not sure how that happened.

Once the shock of their apparent Houdini act wore off, it was time to get my hands on that sweet little baby!

We spent the rest of Friday getting settled in and enjoyed a lovely steak dinner that Greg prepared for all of us. Afterwards, we put the kiddos to bed and Greg, Tessa, Phil, and Doug settled in for a lively game of Pictionary. I opted to be antisocial and watch Water for Elephants on my Kindle Fire from the comfort of the living room. I'm not a huge board game fan, though I did enjoy sitting in to laugh at some of the drawings.

The next day we took our time getting read, had breakfast, put Andrew and Callan down for naps, and headed out for some shopping around town and lunch at Shorebreak. Afterwards, we attempted to visit a local park that Greg has been raving about for months, only to find it packed to the gills with people enjoying the beautiful weather, and stripped of the crown jewel Greg so desperately wanted us to see: a gigantic castle-themed wooden playground. Apparently they recently removed it an installed a fancy-schmancy standard metal play ground set that was overrun with kids when we got there. We opted to pack the kids back into the cars and try the much more modest playground in Greg and Tessa's neighborhood instead. To our relief, it was empty, and the boys (little and not so little) had a great time running around and playing there.

That evening saw an easier go at bedtimes for the boys and another rousing game of Pictionary for the board game fanatics. Phil and Tessa were eager for a rematch after losing to Greg and Doug who, for the record, were cheating, so I can understand the need to have another go at it. Phil and Tessa claimed their victory over that cheaters that night and all was once again right with the world. I finished watching my movie while the showdown was going on. Love my Kindle Fire! Also, loved Water for Elephants. Not as good as the book, as expected, but I could have muted the darn thing and watched Robert Pattinson for two hours and I would have been equally satisfied (even more lovely in human form, that man).

The next morning Philip actually slept until 8 am which was remarkable considering the room was daylight-bright around 6. Apparently Andrew did not sleep quite so late but Phil's parents got up with him and we were none the wiser. A nice treat!

After breakfast, Greg gave Philip his Christmas present from him and Tessa, and the boys all went outside to play with it.

Andrew took his nap around the same time and once he was up we started the always daunting project of cleaning up our mess and packing up the van. The 48 hours we were there went by in the blink of an eye. I can't believe it had been a full year (to the date!) that we had been there for a visit. Pretty sad considering how close we are to each other and how rarely we see one another. Hopefully that will start to change soon.

Weekend Fun

Phil works a rotating schedule which means that he's only off two weekend out of the month. This, I have to admit, is a bummer, and one of the things I like the least about police work. By the time his weekend off rolls around there's so much to do it often feels like there's no time for any fun. This past weekend, we decided to set the to-do list aside and get out of the house for some fun in the sun.

On Saturday we headed to Colonial Beach. We had never been there. Correction, my dad tells me I have been there, but it was over twenty years ago, after we moved to Virginia. So needless to say, I had no memory of it. Pity, because if I had, I might have chosen a different Saturday destination. We drove a long way in the hopes of taking in the beach, doing a little shopping, and getting a bite to eat. Once we got there, we found that pretty much all we would be doing was taking in the beach, what little there was to it. Luckily, Philip didn't mind and it was worth the drive to see the fun he had playing with the pebbles and trying to skip rocks. Hey, at least we got out of the house!

On Sunday, we picked up our own slack a little and got some housework done. Then we headed out to Old House Vineyard where we met our neighbors for some wine and outdoor playtime for the kids. They loved running around the winery's large property!